government.38 24. At present, a total of 435,282 cases have been referred to the FTs in Assam. 39 Of these, 309,048 cases have been completed and 123,929 cases are currently pending.40 As an outcome of the completed cases, 144,077 persons have been “declared foreigners”,41 and at least 63,959 of these cases were decided ex parte (without hearing the suspected individual 42 Some of those who have been ”declared foreigners” are currently incarcerated in detention centres (see Issue II). 25. Parallel to the existing flow of cases, the over 1.9 million people excluded from the final NRC Assam list in August 2019 are now awaiting reference to these same FTs to determine their citizenship status. Given the arbitrariness and stringent documentation requirements of these FTs, this has raised concern of a sharp increase in the number of those deemed foreigners and languishing in the state’s expanding detention centres. Notably, the state government of Assam has filed an application before the Supreme Court for permission to conduct a ‘reverification’ of the NRC list, previously considered ‘final’ - a move justified in the name of a more accurate NRC to address “major irregularities” of the previous list. Yet this has led to fears that more people could be put at risk of exclusion, with an arduous re-verification replicating the issues pervasive in the recent NRC process. This would again be likely to disproportionately affect those most marginalised – including minorities, particularly women and the socio-economically disadvantaged – as well as stoke anti-foreigner and Islamophobic sentiment. ISSUE II Arbitrary Detention of Stateless Persons 26. This section addresses the arbitrary detention of stateless persons in Assam, focusing particularly on declared foreigners (DFN). This group is currently specific to the Assam NRC context. DFNs are those declared as foreigners by Foreigners Tribunals under section 9 of the Foreigners Act, 1946. As discussed above, DFNs have to discharge the burden of proving that they are not foreigners, and are often unable to do so because of inconsistencies in or lack of documents. Further, DFNs have no effective right to appeal and are subject to deportation proceedings. At least 1,133 DFNs have been incarcerated in six prisons that were notified as “detention centres” allegedly “pending deportation”.43 This includes 102 children who are held with their mothers (under 6) in women’s prisons or with their fathers (boys above 6) in men’s prisons.44 Between 2016- 38 Mamoni Rajkumari vs State Of Assam, reported in (2018) 2 Gau LR 422 (Gauhati High Court) Parliament of India, Reply to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question 2306 on 23 March 2022 No. https://pqars.nic.in/annex/256/AU2306.pdf 40 Parliament of India, Reply by the Ministry of Home Affairs to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 865 on 09 February 2022 and Reply to Unstarred Qu 41 Parliament of India, Lok Sabha Reply to Unstarred Question No. 865 submitted by Binoy Viswam on 09 February 2022; Biswa Kalyan Purkayastha, 31 declared foreigners died in detention centres from 2016 to 2021: Assam govt, Hindustan Times, 29 March, 2022, https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/31-declared-foreigners-died-in-detention-centres-from-2016-to-2021-assamgovt-101648551804550.html 42 Lok Sabha Unstarred Question no. 1724 02/07/2019, Parliament of India. 43 Lok Sabha Unstarred Question no. 1724 02/07/2019, Parliament of India 44 Assam State Legislative Assembly, Reply to Unstarred Question No. 548 on 09.08.2021 39 9